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Lee and Sophie Martin were shot at close range while walking their family dog, ITV News Wales and West England correspondent Rupert Evelyn reports
A father and his three-year-old daughter were found cuddled together after being shot by a gunman in a 12-minute killing spree, an inquest heard.
Lee and Sophie Martin were shot at close range by 22-year-old Jake Davison as they walked their family dog.
The pair had left their nearby home in Keyham, Plymouth, to walk their bulldog Mabel, with Sophie pushing her purple pram with a teddy bear inside.
The Martins were gunned down on Biddick Drive on the evening of August 12, 2021, just minutes after Davison killed his own mother.
Jake Davison Credit: PA
The inquest in Exeter heard that several of Davison’s neighbors called 999 after hearing gunshots in the cul-de-sac.
Sharon Hellyer, who lives on Biddick Drive, was at home when she heard about 10 gunshots in quick succession.
Mrs Hellier went to the upstairs window where she saw Davison, whom she recognized, in the street coming out of the way towards the adjacent Linear Park.
Lee Martin, 43, and his three-year-old daughter Sophie Martin, Stephen Washington, 59, and Kate Shepherd, 66, died in the attack Credit: PA
In a written statement, Ms Hellyer told the court the trainee crane operator appeared “calm” and was carrying a gun.
She went outside to speak with two other neighbors who had also been alerted to gunshots.
“Then I saw a woman to my right walking to my right and she was covered in blood around her chest area and she told me she had been shot through her window,” Ms Hellyer said.
“I was walking down Biddick Drive and immediately I noticed a man and a little girl hugging each other and I called out, ‘Will somebody help them?’
Police officers search for evidence after the fatal shooting Photo: Ben Birchall/Pennsylvania
“No answer. There were many people outside their houses, standing and staring and doing nothing.
“I went over to the man and the little girl to try to help and as I got closer I saw that I couldn’t help them.
“The man had a gunshot wound and the little girl was facing the man and they looked really relaxed, it didn’t look real – they looked almost perfectly in place.
“The father still had his arm around the little girl. I used to work in a nursing home and have seen a lot of dead bodies and I knew they were both dead.
The inquest heard that Davison killed his mother Maxine, 51, after a row, before shooting four others during the attack in Plymouth.
The Martins were gunned down on Biddick Drive, then Stephen Washington, 59, was killed before Davison’s final victim, Kate Shepherd, 66, was shot dead.
Davison then turned the rifle on himself before the armed officers could reach him.
The murders came just weeks after Davison’s rifle and gun license were returned by Devon and Cornwall Police.
They were seized in 2020 after Davison assaulted two teenagers in a park.
He applied for a shotgun certificate in July 2017 and one was issued in January 2018, which is valid for five years.
Davison’s use of social media suggests an obsession with “incel” culture — meaning “involuntary celibacy” — as well as an interest in guns and the United States.
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